Biscuit

I agree that it is entirely level dependant. At the college level, I'm always doing it if they have a elbow or shin guard. If it's not entirely obvious, I'll ask them "are you going to need time?" If all they're going to do is stick their gloves in their back pocket, they tell me "nah, I'm good" the majority of the time. If they want to take the gloves to a base coach (which I don't get), they'll say yeah, and I'll call time before they ask for it, which usually gets them trotting over to the base coach a few seconds quicker. At lower levels... It often just creates confusion. Especially offering to take their gear to the base coach (though it's not super often that I'm working 3 man at that level). But even in high school, if they have an elbow guard, it's almost always going to a base coach, so I'll get time preemptively there. The mantra of don't just give out time has a reason behind it. If time is going to be called anyway, then you're actually doing something antithetical to the principle that led you to avoid calling time often. Know WHY you do what you do.

Fair, haha. But like you said, these are hardly mutually exclusive activities.

Well, you also have to understand why they teach what they teach. The hammer strikes is for consistency, and to teach you to keep your eyes forward, which is a lesson you can unlearn as you learn the game and know when it is and is not appropriate to look with your mechanic. My understanding is that, unless this has changed recently, you are required to hammer strikes in Rookie (and maybe low A?) ball for the same reasons. They're breaking you down to the fundamentals so you can build on them. In most cases, I don't care if an umpire clears a bat or not. However, if you have R2 and a ball to the gap that might turn into a play at the plate and the batter puts the bat in just that one spot up the 3rd base line... Why not? If you don't want to throw the bat to the back stop and just want to get it out of the immediate danger zone, cool. But if you're not clearing the bat, what else are you doing? There's no real reason to not clear the bat, you are improving the game, and it makes you look good.

Just to throw it in there, as of 2021, Wendy's (rip) still taught clearing the bat. They taught don't look back, step back with the right leg (mostly to get lower to the ground), and throw the bat straight back.

The way that he typed the words in upper and lower case letters os used to quote someone saying something you think is ridiculous, so more than joking, he's making fun of them.

Obviously... Please never throw bats at people. Obviously... Correct ejection. But man did he have reason to be mad (not throw your bat at someone mad, but mad). On a rehab assignment, gets hit 5 times in 15 ABs, three by this pitcher. Woof.

There's a coach at a JUCO school in the Kansas City(ish) area that really goes above and beyond with hydration and snacks, plus a meal post game. Great guy. Really unfortunate that I've left the field with him steaming mad at me at least 3 times, because he really is one of my favorite coaches to work for, and not just for the refreshments. Though (by no fault of his), the field is maybe the worst I've worked at the college level.

As a Latter Day Saint, this is the reason he is one of my, if not my absolute, least favorite players. I can't speak for any other part of his life, but at least on the ball field, he doesn't exhibit what is being taught. And that's the only part of his life that I and basically everyone else sees.

I thought college did... Am I making that up?

The prop comment got a good chuckle out of me. (Now responding more to dumbdumb) I'd say that this situation had kinda spiraled out of control, so it could be beneficial to try to wrangle it back under control, more specifically, take control of the situation away from the manager. "Don't throw that ball!" And if he does, eject him. It might slightly raise thetemperature, usually the exact opposite of what we're trying to do, but it also would probably be in the form of the manager arguing about the second ejection, at least moving us on (and removing control of the situation from his hands). (Hypothetical mind reading that we don't have nearly enough info to determine whether it is good or not incomong) Other than that, I could see the pitcher not wanting to get involved, but being kinda exasperated and not knowing what to do. If his manager tells him to throw the ball... Well, he doesn't want his manager mad at him later. If the umpire tells him not to, now he has a reason to not do it.

That's a swing. Close? Yeah, but I've seen much closer. From a former catcher who was, uh, not known for his bat.

It's also 14U. You almost never are going to have highly trained umpires at the 14U level... And 14U also doesn't have highly trained players. The higher level of baseball you participate in, the better the umpires will be, and the more likely it is that something will be called consistently. A lot of damage is done because the expectations put on umpires are higher than can be reasonably expected for the level of ball they're working. You don't have MLB umpires, so holding them to the same standard is ridiculous... And again, you also don't have MLB players.

Only thing I disagree with is not calling time right away for a coach to come out for a visit (yes, I recognize that FED doesn't allow it... another thing they do that sucks). There is nothing going on, so why not call time? That way the coach doesn't have to wait to come out.

DeBrauwere is a stand up guy. He helps train umpires with United Umpires, and does a phenomenal job. Helped me out a ton, and really cared about my development!

Just to make sure this is clear to future readers, it has no bearing on fair/foul, but it can affect whether a caught ball is an out or not based on the player being in our out of play when they catch it (but more than just the feet often matter, and how it matters depends on which rule set the gane is played under)